Removal of liquids and debris from a paved surface is frequently required, typically to assure safe operation of motor vehicles on the surface. Various approaches have been employed for removing liquid and debris from paved surfaces. One approach has been to use hand-held nozzles similar to those found on a shop vacuum to assist in removal of the contaminants, such as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,034 for the removal of snow which might otherwise obstruct vehicle traffic over the paved surface.
For surfaces used in motor vehicle racing, the surface must not only be free of debris and other contaminants such as oil, but the surface must also be dry. Racing vehicles operate at high speeds and rely on traction between the tires of the vehicle and the track surface, as well as the skill of the operator, to maintain control of the vehicle during a race, so a dry track is imperative. An additional factor is the time required to dry the track, as a scheduled race may be delayed or even postponed if the time required to dry the track is excessive.
Classically, racetracks have been dried with truck-mounted jet turbines which serve as pavement dryers blowers that dry the track. This approach is time consuming and requires large quantities of fuel to operate the jet turbines. Recently, two patents have issued for inventions which are specifically directed to drying paved surfaces such as racetracks.
The first of these, U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,943, teaches a machine for removing water from outdoor surfaces, the machine having multiple drying units movably mounted to a frame and connected to a tank which resides on the frame. The tank has a storage section, for collecting water, and an air flow section connected to a suction fan. The drying units are arranged in two staggered rows, each drying unit having a roller and a suction housing. The roller has a foam tube which is compressed against the pavement to form one edge of an enclosed region, the remaining edges being formed by the suction housing. The suction housing includes an inlet into which water residing in the enclosed region is forced by suction, the water collecting in the housing and thereafter being pumped to the storage section of the tank. Any water absorbed by the foam tube is removed by a wringer and also drawn into the housing by suction. Water entrained in the suction air collects in the air flow section of the tank and is also pumped to the storage section. The device of the '943 patent is a complicated, multiple-component structure, and the use of foam tubes may make the device highly susceptible to wear.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,179 teaches a surface drying machine with a somewhat simpler structure. The machine uses squeegees to divert water from its path and a rotating brush in a first chamber to collect any remaining water and deposit the water into a drip pan. The water from the drip pan collects in a tank. A blower forces hot air into a second chamber to evaporate water not collected by the brush. In a preferred embodiment, two brushes are employed which are mounted in floating bearings to follow contours in the pavement surface. The use of a squeegee for diverting water limits the effectiveness of the device, as water diverted onto an adjacent portion of the pavement must be subsequently removed. Furthermore, the movement of water collected by the drip pan to the tank appears to be by gravity flow, limiting the use of the device to surfaces where the slope allows such flow.
Thus, there is a need for a device for rapidly removing water from a paved surface which avoids the deficiencies of the above referenced devices.